About

A robust Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) system is fundamental to meet the reporting requirements of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The reporting requirements, which were improved through the Bali Action Plan adopted at COP 13 in 2007, introduce the principle of MRV for both developed and developing country Parties of the UNFCCC in the context of enhancing climate change mitigation action at international and national levels. The principle of MRV has since been clarified through further COP decisions, resulting in a comprehensive MRV framework under the UNFCCC, which now requires also developing country Parties to:

  • Submitting national communications (NCs) every four years and biennial update reports (BURs) every two years, which contain a national GHG Inventory Report;
  • Undergo international consultation and analysis;
  • Set up domestic MRV system.

Good MRV systems, supported by well-trained national MRV professionals is essential to track progress towards the implementation of the UNFCCC and achieving Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

Therefore, the European Commission, DG Climate Action, launched a project in 2015 to support a group of seven African countries to meet the UNFCCC reporting requirements. These countries are Algeria, Angola, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria and Senegal.

This EU project is using the momentum built by the Paris Agreement at COP21 to spur countries’ motivation to learn and enhance their institutional capacity in climate MRV. The more regular, binding, and all-inclusive reporting requirements under the Paris Agreement constitute an essential tool for developing countries to improve their national GHG inventories and to draft ambitious strategies, covering both mitigation and adaptation. The European Union funded MRV Africa project assisted the Countries in building institutional capacity on climate change mitigation and MRV. The EUR 1.8 million project consisted of two phases and was implemented by a consortium of consulting firms led by NIRAS in cooperation with CAMCO, TÜV Rheinland, and GreenStream Network.

Phases:

Phase 1 was dedicated to gathering background information relevant to MRV and mitigation actions in each target country, conducting fact-finding visits to discuss the issues with key national institutions, and holding stakeholder consultation and engagement workshops.

Phase 2 started with developing a tailored capacity building (CB) plan for the selected three phase 2 countries (Egypt, Ethiopia, and Nigeria), agreeing the programs with all key national counterparts, designing training content, and confirming a detailed schedule of capacity building activities. In addition the MRV Africa project provided targeted support for implementation of an MRV system in a selected sub-sector in each of the phase 2 countries: Cement Industry in Ethiopia, Grid Connected Electricity Generation in Nigeria and Waste Sector in Egypt. The delivery of the in-depth capacity building program was done over an 18-month period in the phase 2 countries, with participation from other phase 1 countries (Algeria, Angola, Ghana, and Senegal). Finally, a regional workshop for all seven countries will take place in December 2017 to share the experiences gained and to report outcomes of and impacts from the phase 2 in-depth institutional capacity development.

The project focused on capacity building in the following areas:

  • Establishment of national MRV system
  • MRV of GHG emissions
  • MRV of Mitigation Actions and Policies in the context of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs);
  • Preparation of UNFCCC Reports, including NCs, BURs and GHG Inventories.
The training comprised of theoretical sessions and practical exercises, mainly delivered by the Project Key Experts, with contributions from local experts to show the current approaches and level of competence in the country. The following training formats where used: lectures and presentations, hands-on practical exercises, structured discussions and case study examples.